valour remembered - canadian armed...

ValourRememberedThe Story of Alan Arnett McLeod, VC

By Chief Warrant Officer J. W. (Bill) Dalke, MMM, CD

CF Photo

FALL 2010 • VoL. 3, No. 4 vAlOUR REMEMBERED: ThE STORY OF AlAN ARNETT MClEOD, vC 35

introduCtionAt the outset of the First World War

(WWI) in 1914, many who went off to war in the early days thought that the conflict would be over by Christmas. How wrong they were. Christmas would come and go four times before “The Great War” would end. This event saw the dawn of military aviation. In the skies, the use of aircraft progressed from being a novelty to a necessity. He who controlled the airspace above the battlefield held the advan-tage on the ground. What began as a curious tool for reconnaissance progressed to being the army’s eyes in the skies, able to record the pos-itions and movements of ground troops as well as communicate this information in real time to effectively direct artillery fire. Of course, such actions could not be allowed to continue without resistance. In order to prevent enemy aircraft from doing the same, pilots began to mount guns on their aircraft. In a short time, fighter aircraft came into being, with the goals of protecting their own bombing and recon-naissance aircraft while preventing the enemy from using similar strategy. The skies of World War One were deadly, and the early aircraft designs themselves were equally dangerous. It took an incredible amount of courage and daring to face the enemy in the skies. Three Canadian airmen in that conflict were awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded. Presented here is the story of Alan Arnett McLeod, the youngest Canadian airman to have been awarded the Victoria Cross, and his own forgotten valour.

baCKgroundAlan Arnett (nicknamed “Bus”, “Buster”

or “Babe”) McLeod was born in Stonewall, a community just north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, on April 20, 1899. He was the son of a country doctor, Dr. Alexander N. McLeod, who had come from Scotland in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. His mother, Margaret, was also of Scottish background, and associ-ated with the Selkirk Settlers brought by Lord Selkirk to settle along the Red River.1 Alan McLeod lived the life of an ordinary schoolboy, although with some notable exceptions. In January, 1909, The Stonewall Argus newspaper noted:

Master Alan McLeod was observed to perform a feat the other day which called for some endurance and some nerve on the part of so young a lad. It also gave evidence of his kindly disposition. A dog passed along the street and was seen to have a trap on its foot. A gentleman tried to catch it, but did not succeed. Alan started after it and after following it for nearly half a mile and coming up with it several times succeeded in stopping it and removing the trap. He let the dog go and returned the trap to the constable. Asked how the dog behaved he explained that it showed its teeth at first, but he got it to understand after a little. Not the least praiseworthy feature was his seeming unconsciousness that he had done anything but what any boy would do.2

A s Canadians queued for vaccinations in Fall 2009, read their newspapers, and listened intently to the televised medical updates from the World Health Organization about the H1N1 flu virus, reference was frequently made to the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. That event claimed millions

of lives across the world. This is the story of one of those victims, a valiant Canadian pilot who had been awarded Britain’s highest honour for an act of heroism in the air during the First World War. Having survived this event against all odds, this young hero fell ill to the Spanish Flu just as the war was ending. As a result, his name is virtually unknown today except in military aviation history circles or near the community he grew up in. Or is it?

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This story revealed aspects of young McLeod’s character that would also be evident in the events leading up to his being awarded the Victoria Cross.

He showed an interest in the military while quite young. McLeod was big for his age, and as a result, was successful in June of 1913 in joining a detachment of men undergoing sum-mer training with the 34th Fort Garry Horse at Fort Sewell. His enthusiasm was evident, and having grown up around horses, he had the necessary riding ability to follow the cavalry curriculum without difficulty.

When war was declared, McLeod’s interest shifted to aerial adventure, and he attempted to join the cadet wing of the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto. A birth certificate was demanded, and once presented, he was informed that his application could not be considered until his eighteenth birthday. It is not recorded how patient he was, but wait he did until receiving notification just a few days before his birthday that he was to report on April 23, 1917, for commencement of training. His last day of school was his eighteenth birthday. The principal, a Mr. Burford, ensured that special recognition was given and the day had a holiday atmosphere, with a farewell party and gift pres-entation.3 He left the next day to commence his training at Long Branch, Deseronto.

training and oPErationSAfter successful initial training, he took

his first flight on June 4 in a Curtiss JN4. His very first flight in this dual-control machine was for a duration of only ten minutes. His flying continued over the next three days, and on June 7, he was able to take over the controls once the pilot instructor had taken it to a safe height. His first solo flight was made on June 9 after a grand total of only two hours and fifty-five minutes of instruction. By June 16, he had moved to Camp Borden for advanced instruction. Training was no picnic, though, as he noted in a letter home on June 19, 1917:

I arrived at Camp Borden yesterday. It is an awful hole. I guess I’ll get used to it

but it’s lonely here, just a mass of sand and tents…we are sleeping in tents without floors, there are lots of us in a tent, we have no dressers or wash stands, we have to walk about ¼ mile to the building to get washed…we have to get up at 3:45 a.m. and there is no time to spare till noon and we just have 2 hours for dinner, then in the afternoon after dinner, we work till 4:30 then have a lunch and fly till 8:15, then we have supper and after supper, there are lectures from 9-10:30, then we go to bed. We have lots of drill and have to polish our buttons and boots or get Cain. We can have a week-end pass once a month…I just hate this place.4

However, as training progressed, McLeod settled in and demonstrated his natural flying abilities. By July 31, he had qualified as a pilot.

Prior to departure overseas, McLeod was given leave. He returned to Stonewall, de-parting there on August 15 for Montreal where he boarded the Metagama on August 20 bound for England. The transit was far from unevent-ful. McLeod experienced the submarine threat and the Metagama had to be put into a safe harbour in Ireland for a few days. Arriving in England on September 1, he attended a short refresher course at Winchester and then was posted to 82 Squadron at Waddington in Lincolnshire. This squadron was equipped with the heavy Armstrong Whitworth FK8 two-seater bomber reconnaissance tractor biplane. This aircraft, one of the lesser known types of the war, was somewhat ungainly in appearance, and described by McLeod as “having the aerodynamics of a cow.”5 There for only a short time, McLeod was excited to learn in September that the squadron was to proceed to France. Alas, though, his age once again got in the way. Upon a review of records, his commanding officer found that he was only eighteen and informed him that he would have to wait until he was nineteen before going on active service. As a result, he was transferred to 51 Squadron. This was a Home Defence squadron flying “Fees,” the FE2b (Royal Aircraft Factory Farman Experimental 2b

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two-seater pusher biplane). There, for the next two months, he flew the black-painted fighters over the skies of London at night in search of German Zeppelins and Gotha bomber aircraft. Night flying was in its infancy, and lacking the technology that serves to safeguard such flying today, in 1917 there was always the constant risk of collision in the air (either with the enemy or another British machine). He was once shot down over the great city but managed to land the aircraft safely, considering the event an amusing occurrence rather than a dangerous event. His enthusiasm was evident, and having come to the attention of his commander, some strings were pulled and he finally found himself being sent to the front. Being first sent to the Pilot’s Pool at St. Omer, he was quickly posted to No. 2 Squadron at Hesdigneul, reporting on November 29.

When the commanding officer saw him, he reacted by saying, “What is this, a nursery? This kid can’t be more than fifteen.”6 McLeod was sent to B flight where Lieutenant (Lt) Higgins, the senior observer in the squadron, evaluated him. McLeod’s first flight in France was on December 2, 1917. A few days later he flew with Lt Higgins as his observer over enemy lines doing artillery spotting, and McLeod adequately demonstrated his aptitude for flying. His duties, while flying the Armstrong Whitworth FK8 (nicknamed “Big Ack”), were photography, night bombing, and artillery cooperation, and he quickly proved himself to be a first-class pilot. Artillery cooperation involved ranging a specific group of guns by fly-ing steadily over enemy positions and reporting where the rounds landed and the corrections to be made to put them onto target. This was particularly dangerous for the pilot, who was a loitering target for enemy anti-aircraft guns or small arms fire if at low level, plus a tempting one for any enemy fighter aircraft. McLeod was not too concerned about the latter, and despite the lumbering aircraft he flew, fre-quently turned to attack enemy aircraft when they appeared, perhaps believing that a good offense is the best defence. Once, a German Albatros fighter got onto his tail and McLeod was annoyed to find that his observer was

not returning fire with his gun. Much yelling and signalling ensued, resulting in McLeod understanding that the gun was jammed. He somehow managed to outmanoeuvre and escape the German, and upon landing, he examined the gun, only to find that the safety catch had not been released. One could reasonably pre-sume that the observer’s ineptitude would have angered McLeod considerably, but, instead, he laughed about the observer’s carelessness and often regaled others with this story that he considered a very fine joke.

McLeod started his new year offensively with a flight on January 3, 1918, the first clear day in a week. Visiting the town of La Bassée in Flanders, he spotted a concentration of German troops and attacked them.

He received a Mention in Dispatches for his efforts of January 14, when McLeod and his observer, Northampton Englishman Lt Reginald Key, attacked a German observation balloon. Attacking balloons was considered extremely dangerous business. They were fre-quently well protected by a ring of anti-aircraft guns that were very adept at firing on enemy aircraft. These guns had an advantage in know-ing the height of their balloon and as a result were always able to determine the exact height of the attacking enemy aircraft, thereby making even the most experienced pilots think twice before attacking a balloon and braving the wall of lead that rose to meet them. McLeod, dodg-ing this way and that to avoid the grey bursts of exploding anti-aircraft shells, climbed above the balloon and then dove down from above towards it, just as a fighter would. Pulling up level with the “gas bag,” his observer raked it with machine gun fire. It burst into flames and began to fall to earth. As they turned to leave, they were set on by three Albatros scouts. Skilful flying enabled McLeod to avoid their attacks while manoeuvring the aircraft into a favourable position for his gunner, Lt Key, who succeeded in sending one down on fire. The remaining two fled.

Two days later, McLeod and Key were again near La Bassée directing an artillery


shoot. An annoyingly accurate anti-aircraft battery and small arms fire from nearby build-ings were making this duty extremely difficult. McLeod, despite the heavy fire, dived on the guns, raking them with machine gun fire, dropped bombs on them to keep them silenced, attacked a column of troops nearby before resuming the shoot and returning to his aero-drome. The guns that McLeod had destroyed had been a considerable annoyance in the area, and for his efforts McLeod was granted two weeks leave in London. Commencing his leave on January 27, McLeod probably thought that he was safer than in France. During his second night in London, a German bomb destroyed a building near the Savoy Hotel where he was staying, killing 49 people and injuring 147.7

Shortly after returning to the front, McLeod’s observer was transferred to another squadron. Key, who would survive the war and later move to Toronto, wrote of his experiences with McLeod: “Alan would take on anything, and I was willing to go anywhere with him. He was the finest pilot I have ever flown with, devoid of fear, and always merry and bright. We were in many scraps together and often after getting out of a very tight corner by sheer piloting, with six or seven Huns on our tail, he would turn to me and laugh out loud.”8

McLeod’s new observer was Lt Arthur William Hammond. Hammond had already

been decorated for bravery and wore the ribbon of the Military Cross on his uniform. On March 27, 1918, they were flying together during the event that ultimately resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross to McLeod and a Bar to the Military Cross to Hammond.

valour diSPlaYEd A German offensive had resulted in

orders for the squadron to fly south and attack German troop concentrations near Bapaume. McLeod and Hammond, like other squadron members, were in the air day and night, attacking with bullets and bombs. On the morning of March 27, 1918, they took off with six other machines but became separated while flying in thick fog. Unable to determine their position, McLeod eventually returned and landed at the aerodrome of 43 Squadron. Landing heavily due to the full load of bombs, they cracked their tail skid and had to wait as another one was delivered and replaced. Upon taking off again, McLeod headed for the target area near Albert, and was just about to bomb a German gun battery when he was attacked by German fighters from Baron von Richthofen’s Flying Circus, a deadly unit so-named for their brightly painted aircraft. Perhaps the official citation for the award of the Victoria Cross to Second Lieutentant (2Lt) Alan Arnett McLeod, Royal Air Force, gazetted on May 1, 1918, explains the subsequent events most eloquently:

Whilst flying with his observer, Lieutenant A.W. Hammond, M.C., attacking hostile formations by bombs and machine gun fire, he was assailed at a height of 5,000 feet by eight enemy triplanes which dived on him from all directions, firing from their front guns. By skilful manoeuvring he en-abled his observer to fire bursts at each machine in turn, shooting three of them down out of control. By this time Lieut. McLeod had received five wounds, and whilst continuing the engagement a bullet penetrated his petrol tank and set the machine on fire.

He then climbed out on to the left bottom wing, controlling his machine from the side of the fuselage and by side-shipping [sic] steeply kept the flames to one side, thus enabling the observer to continue firing until the ground was reached.

The observer had been wounded six times when the machine crashed in “No Man’s Land” and 2nd. Lt. McLeod, notwithstanding his own wounds, dragged him away from the burning wreckage at great personal risk [from] heavy-machine gun fire from the enemy’s lines. This very gallant pilot was again wounded by a bomb whilst engaged in this act of rescue, but he persevered until he had placed Lt Hammond in comparative safety, before falling himself from exhaustion and loss of blood.


McLeod Memorial Painting by George Tanner


Their rescuers were members of a South African infantry regiment. One of Hammond’s legs was broken and would later have to be amputated. McLeod had five wounds, not including those received from the bomb after the engagement. “The journey to medical attention more sophisticated than a Field Dressing Station was long and painful, made both by motor ambulance and on hand-bourne [sic] stretchers to Amiens.”9

It was a German pilot, Lt Hans Kirschstein, from Jasta 10 of Von Richthofen’s JG1, whose at-tack from astern and below had ruptured the fuel tanks.10 He was eventually credited with 27 aerial victories and decorated with Germany’s highest honour of WWI, the Pour le Mérite, also known as the “Blue Max.” He was killed while flying as a passenger in July 1918.

As for Lt Hammond, he later immigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg and working for the Great-West Life Assurance Company. He served with the RCAF in Canada during the Second World War and died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1959.

McLeod’s father sailed to England to be with his son as he recuperated from his injuries. He also attended the investiture of the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on September 4, when King George V, upon viewing the smiling young airman supporting himself at attention with the aid of two canes, congratulated him on his “brave deed” and stated, “I am proud to know you.”11 Fellow pilot Billy Bishop, the first Canadian airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross, hosted a champagne dinner at the

Savoy Hotel afterwards, together with Arthur Richardson, who had been the first to be awarded the same decoration in the Boer War.12

thE rESt of thE StorYAlan McLeod and his father left England

when he was well enough to travel, arriving in Winnipeg on September 30, 1918. Thousands of Winnipeg citizens and hundreds from Stonewall were there to provide a fitting recep-tion for their hero. Stonewall even declared a civic holiday in his honour. McLeod appreci-ated the welcome, but was very modest in his comments, not wishing people to be “thinking that I’m suffering from a swelled head instead of wounds.”13

The nineteen-year-old, who had received word that he would be promoted to Captain, was looking forward to returning to the front once he’d recuperated. However, he contracted the flu in October, which weakened him and led to pneumonia. He died at 9 o’clock in the evening of November 6, 1918, at the Winnipeg General Hospital. In the end, Spanish Influenza had done what the enemy could not do.

The funeral was held on Saturday, November 9. Thousands lined the street as he was borne on a gun carriage draped in the Union Jack. His cortege travelled along Main Street to the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery where he was buried with full military honours. Pallbearers were six officers of the Royal Air Force. A guard of honour consisted of 100 of-ficers and men of the First Depot battalion and 50 men of the Engineering and Construction unit. The firing party were troopers of the Fort Garry Horse, as was the bugler who played the Last Post. Although his death had been front page news in the Manitoba Free Press of November 7, the coverage of his funeral was relegated to page 10 (the front page instead announcing: “Huns Quit; War Is Over”).14

In 1967, McLeod’s medals and personal letters were donated to the Canadian War Museum by his sister, Mrs. Helen Annetts. His Victoria Cross and two accompanying service

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medals are currently on loan and proudly displayed in the Bishop Building, Headquarters of 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg.

Although not as well known as the other two Canadians who won the VC in the air during WWI (Bishop and Barker), McLeod’s name has not been completely forgotten. His name can be seen on many military bases across Canada where streets, buildings, conference rooms, and even an air annex museum bear

his name. Most recently, No. 301 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron (“Alan McLeod, VC” Squadron) was of-ficially re-formed in Stonewall in May 2009. Originally created on July 20, 1943, it was disbanded

in March 1948. Sponsored by the Stonewall Legion Branch 52, they currently boast over 40 cadets and have incorporated McLeod’s Victoria Cross medal and aircraft into their Squadron crest design. The Latin motto

accompanying it translates to “Victory favours those who take pains.”

Alan McLeod’s bravery during a world conflict that took an estimated 15 million lives was recognized by the award of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry. Having survived this terrible conflict, he came home only to contract Spanish Influenza, from which, as with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 other Canadians15 and an incred-ible estimated 20–50 million people worldwide, he died.

Canada now has its own Victoria Cross. No longer will the British one be issued to Canadians. The new, distinct Canadian medal has been created, forged with a combination of the original British gunmetal, an 1867 Confederation medal, and metals from all the regions of Canada. Instead of “For Valour,” the Latin words “Pro Valore” appear. Although there has not yet been a single award of the Canadian Victoria Cross, we can be assured that if anyone does perform a deed worthy of such recognition, they will not be forgotten. As we say every November 11th, “We will remember them.”


Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) J. W. (Bill) Dalke is the Division Chief Warrant Officer for 2 Canadian Air Division. He was the first Air Force representative to attend Royal Military College on the Knowledge Acquisition Program, and served as the 16 Wing CWO prior to his current appointment. He has an avid interest in aviation history and has previously been published in the Canadian Military Journal.

list of abbreviations2nd Lt second lieutenant VC Victoria CrossLt lieutenant WWI First World WarMMM Member of the Order of Military Merit

notes1. George A. Drew, Canada’s Fighting Airmen (Toronto: MacLean Publishing, 1930), 216.2. Ibid., 216.3. Ibid., 217.4. C. W. Hunt, Dancing In the Sky (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2009), 78-79.5. Arthur Bishop, Our Bravest and Our Best (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1995), 91.6. Ibid., 91.7. Drew, 223.8. Ibid., 223.9. Peter G. Cooksley, The Air VCs (Trowbridge: Sutton Publishing, 1996), 127.10. Ralph Barker, A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I (London: Robinson, 2002), 455.11. Bishop, 90. 12. Ibid., 93.13. Ibid., 94. 14. “Last Respects Paid Lieut. Alan McLeod,” Manitoba Free Press (11 November 1918), 10. 15. Hunt, 260.

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image: veterans Affairs Canada

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